South Africa: Migrants under Attack

Editor's Note

"Xenophobia is rife in South Africa. However, repression of
immigrants, refugees and undocumented people goes beyond naked
violence in poor communities. Earlier this year, police raided the
Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, beating up and arresting
immigrants, mainly from Zimbabwe. The state systematically abuses
the rights of immigrants: health workers deny treatment, home
affairs officials demand bribes and police assault immigrants
regularly." - Treatment Action Campaign

With violence increasing against immigrants in South Africa from
Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and other countries, South African President
Thabo Mbeki has denounced the violence
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200805200536.html) and the government
has pledged to take action. But human rights groups say that
actions do not yet match the verbal commitments.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains (1) a statement by South
Africa's Treatment Action campaign, with reference to their
extensive report on refugees in South Africa at:
http://www.tac.org.za/community/files/file/et25.pdf, (2) a summary
by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks on current
events as well as background on the issue in previous years, and
(3) a statement by the AIDS and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa,
a coalition of groups in South Africa and other Southern African
countries.

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins and Africa Policy E-Journal
issues on migration and human rights, both in Southern Africa and
globally, see

Government must take decisive action to stop violence

The Treatment Action Campaign condemns the wave of xenophobic
violence sweeping through communities in Gauteng. We call on
Government to take action to halt the violence; to put in place a
national strategy to protect the safety, health and well being of
victims of xenophobic attacks and to take steps to prevent the
violence from spreading further.

With the violence now having spread to almost a dozen communities
in and around Johannesburg and threats of violence issued elsewhere
across the country, including Cape Town, we demand more effective
action from Government to deal with the crisis. Specifically we ask
Government to:

Call together all political parties, President Mbeki and all
political party leaders to visit sites of violence and to condemn
it in the strongest terms.

Draft contingency plans, in consultation with relevant
stakeholders, to manage the violence and its after-effects should
it spread to other areas of the country. While we sincerely hope
that the violence will be contained and halted in Gauteng, we urge
every municipality to put in place coherent strategies for dealing
with possible outbreaks of xenophobic violence.

Designate and make available places of sanctuary for victims of
xenophobic attacks. The current system whereby victims take shelter
at police stations is unsustainable; Government must identify sites
where large numbers of people can be comfortably accommodated and
easily protected.

Distribute emergency social assistance packages to all displaced
persons.

Initiate a sustained media campaign condemning the violence. We
ask for our political leaders to be more visible and to go on radio
and television condemning the attacks.

TAC reluctantly calls for the deployment of the South African
National Defence Force (SANDF) to assist the police services in
curbing the violence. Although this brings back terrible memories
of the Apartheid era, the police services do not have the capacity
to stop the violence without the support of the SANDF.

Ending violence and restoring dignity to refugees, immigrants and
undocumented migrants is not only the task of government. All civil
society organizations, charities, humanitarian bodies and NGOs must
establish a unified and coordinated response to this national
humanitarian emergency. TAC is working with the AIDS Law project,
Lawyers for Human Rights, Legal Resources Centre and other
organisations to address the crisis.

Xenophobia is rife in South Africa. However, repression of
immigrants, refugees and undocumented people goes beyond naked
violence in poor communities. Earlier this year, police raided the
Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, beating up and arresting
immigrants, mainly from Zimbabwe. The state systematically abuses
the rights of immigrants: health workers deny treatment, home
affairs officials demand bribes and police assault immigrants
regularly. Then there are institutions like Lindela, where people
are incarcerated in ghastly conditions before being deported
despite not having committed any crime. This all goes on while the
South African government refuses to recognise that people fleeing
from Zimbabwe are refugees.

This issue of Equal Treatment contains a special report on the
systematic abuse of the rights of immigrants. We hope that it
galvanises South Africans to stand up against xenophobia, both by
the state and in our communities.

Burning the Welcome Mat

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]

The death toll in a wave of attacks targeting foreigners around
South Africa's main city of Johannesburg has reportedly risen to
32, with an estimated 6,000 people seeking shelter in police
stations, churches and community halls.

Police spokesperson Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo was quoted in
The Star newspaper as saying on Monday that the situation was calm
in the townships of Alexandra, in northern Johannesburg, and
Diepsloot, southwest of the city, where the attacks started last
week.

However, the violence spread to Zandspruit, northwest of
Johannesburg, and Tembisa, Primrose, Reiger Park and Thokoza, on
the eastern perimeter of the city, as well as other working-class
communities.

South African newspapers on Monday ran horrific images of people
set alight by angry mobs who roamed townships during the weekend
looking for foreigners and looting their shops and homes. In scenes
reminiscent of anti-apartheid protest from the 1980s, the police
fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

In the Troyville area, just east of the central business district
and historically a migrant enclave, shops were closed on Monday
night and the usually busy streets were quiet. An estimated 2,000
people had taken refuge in the nearby Jeppe Street police station
after violence at the weekend.

A police officer, who asked not to be named, told IRIN that he did
not expect the violence to end anytime soon, and the station needed
blankets and food to care for the foreign nationals - mainly
Zimbabwean, Mozambican and Angolans - who were sheltering on the
premises.

President Thabo Mbeki announced on Sunday that a panel had been set
up to investigate the attacks, but the South African Human Rights
Commission (SAHRC), a constitutionally mandated watchdog, accused
the government on Monday of failing to take the threat of
xenophobia seriously.

SAHRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane was reported in newspapers
as saying that the sudden outburst was the result of festering
anger at poverty, a lack of resources, and the large influx of
immigrants.

An estimated five million people from almost every country in
Africa have migrated to South Africa; three million of these are
thought to be Zimbabwean, but the Department of Home Affairs has no
record of how many migrants might be undocumented.

They are perceived as taking jobs in an economy with an estimated
unemployment rate of 40 percent, but in which there is also a
serious skills shortage.

Not a new problem

The following chronology looks back at the problem of xenophobia
since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

1994

The Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) threatens to take
"physical action" if the government fails to respond to the
perceived crisis of undocumented migrants in South Africa.

IFP leader and Minister of Home Affairs Mangosutho Buthelezi says
in his first speech to parliament: "If we as South Africans are
going to compete for scarce resources with millions of aliens who
are pouring into South Africa, then we can bid goodbye to our
Reconstruction and Development Programme."

In December gangs of South Africans try to evict perceived
"illegals" from Alexandra township, blaming them for increased
crime, sexual attacks and unemployment. The campaign, lasting
several weeks, is known as "Buyelekhaya" (Go back home).

1995

A report by the Southern African Bishops' Conference concludes:
"There is no doubt that there is a very high level of xenophobia in
our country ... One of the main problems is that a variety of
people have been lumped together under the title of 'illegal
immigrants', and the whole situation of demonising immigrants is
feeding the xenophobia phenomenon."

In a speech to parliament, Home Affairs Minister Buthelezi claims
"illegal aliens" cost South African taxpayers "billions of rands"
each year.

A study co-authored by the Human Sciences Research Council and
the Institute for Security Studies reports that 65 percent of South
Africans support forced repatriation of undocumented migrants.
White South Africans are found to be most hostile to migrants, with
93 percent expressing negative attitudes.

Local hawkers in central Johannesburg attack their foreign
counterparts. The chairperson of the Inner Johannesburg Hawkers
Committee is quoted as saying: "We are prepared to push them out of
the city, come what may. My group is not prepared to let our
government inherit a garbage city because of these leeches."

A Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) survey of migrants in
Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe shows that very few would wish to
settle in South Africa. A related study of migrant entrepreneurs in
Johannesburg finds that these street traders create an average of
three jobs per business.

1998

Three non-South Africans are killed on a train travelling between
Pretoria and Johannesburg in what is described as a xenophobic
attack.

In December The Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign is launched by a
partnership of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC),
the National Consortium on Refugee Affairs and the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Department of Home Affairs reports that the majority of
deportations are of Mozambicans (141,506) followed by Zimbabweans
(28,548)

1999

A report by the SAHRC notes that xenophobia underpins police
action against foreigners. People are apprehended for being "too
dark" or "walking like a black foreigner". Police also regularly
destroy documents of black non-South Africans.

2000

Sudanese refugee James Diop is seriously injured after being
thrown from a train in Pretoria by a group of armed men. Kenyan Roy
Ndeti and his room mate are shot in their home. Both incidents are
described as xenophobic attacks.

In Operation Crackdown, a joint police and army sweep, over 7,000
people are arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants. In
contrast, only 14 people are arrested for serious crimes.

A SAHRC report on the Lindela deportation centre, a holding
facility for undocumented migrants, lists a series of abuses at the
facility, including assault and the systematic denial of basic
rights. The report notes that 20 percent of detainees claimed South
African citizenship or that they were in the country legally.

2001

According to the 2001 census, out of South Africa's population of
45 million, just under one million foreigners are legally resident
in the country. However, the Department of Home Affairs estimates
there are more than seven million undocumented migrants.

2004

Protests erupt at Lindela over claims of beatings and inmate
deaths, coinciding with hearings into xenophobia by SAHRC and
parliament's portfolio committee on foreign affairs.

2006

Cape Town's Somali community claim that 40 traders have been the
victims of targeted killings between August and September.

Somali-owned businesses in the informal settlement of Diepsloot,
outside Johannesburg, are repeatedly torched.

2007

In March UNHCR notes its concern over the increase in the number
of xenophobic attacks on Somalis. The Somali community claims 400
people have been killed in the past decade.

In May more than 20 people are arrested after shops belonging to
Somalis and other foreign nationals are torched during
anti-government protests in Khutsong township, a small mining town
about 50km southwest of Johannesburg.

According to the International Organisation of Migration, 177,514
Zimbabweans deported from South Africa pass through their reception
centre across the border in Beitbridge since its opening in May
2006.

2008

In March human rights organisations condemn a spate of xenophobic
attacks around Pretoria that leave at least four people dead and
hundreds homeless.

AIDS and Human Rights Groups Condemn Violence Against Migrants in
South Africa

19 May 2008, Cape Town, South Africa---A surge of violent
xenophobic attacks has swept through the South African province of
Gauteng, particularly the greater Johannesburg area, in the past
week, leaving at least 32 people dead, scores more injured, and
thousands homeless Since Sunday 11 May, daily outbreaks of violence
against foreigners have ravaged the city - including multiple
incidents of sexual assault, beating, shooting, looting and burning
of homes and businesses. The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern
Africa (ARASA) and its partners across the SADC region strongly
condemn this despicable violence, and are disturbed by the utterly
inadequate response of the South African government to the volatile
situation - one that independent media observers have likened to a
war zone.

The humanitarian impact of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng is
devastating. It is estimated that up to 10,000 foreigners
throughout the province are now destitute, either due to
destruction of their homes or because they had to flee for safety,
leaving all of their belongings behind. Hundreds of foreigners have
sought shelter in police stations and many have been turned back to
the streets to face brutal mobs. Centres for refugees run by
non-governmental organizations are filled past capacity, with many
experiencing shortages of essential medical supplies, food,
clothing, blankets and sanitary services. Some paramedics sent to
provide emergency care at the scenes of violence have been forced
to retreat under attack.

Beyond the obvious humanitarian crisis, the situation also reveals
a crisis of leadership in South Africa. High-level condemnation of
these attacks is not being matched by the urgent action that is
necessary to contain them. Actions taken to date by the South
African government have proven woefully insufficient to stem the
fierce wave of xenophobia and its devastating aftermath. Police,
health and social service systems are ill-equipped to respond
adequately to this emergency. A government panel mandated to 'look
into' these attacks and a provincial task team were only
established one week after the violence broke out; and so far have not articulated any emergency
plan to improve the government's response to this crisis -
including, most importantly, a plan to provide secure shelter for
survivors of violence and potential victims. Without the guarantee
of secure shelter for refugees remaining in South Africa, the
current undertaking not to deport anyone in Gauteng is meaningless.

Meanwhile, civil society organizations are receiving information on
planned attacks in other cities. On the night of Sunday 18 May,
residents in Mitchell's Plain, a township in Cape Town, mobilized
and began chanting slogans calling for an attack on foreigners,
which was avoided by quick police intervention. However, no
standing plan has been established to pre-empt outbreaks of
xenophobic violence in other parts of the country.

The current events have been driven by the broader human rights
crisis that has built up in South Africa around migrant issues. The
very police and social services that are now mandated to deal with
this outbreak of violence have themselves been implicated in
xenophobic incidents several times in recent months. The failure of
the South African government to respond strongly to widespread
episodes of discrimination and violence against migrants and to
confront the political and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe - from
which the majority of migrants in South Africa originate - has
turned what should have been a haven for refugees fleeing the
brutality of Mugabe's regime, into a nightmare.

ARASA and its partners call upon the South African government to
urgently develop and implement an emergency national response to
violence against foreigners. This must include:

Ensuring that civil authorities, particularly the police, have
the capacity to respond immediately to all incidents of violence
against migrants;

A guarantee that all survivors of violence, in fact, all
migrants, receive basic services - including health care, food,
sanitation services, clothing and secure shelter, regardless of
their immigration status, as is due to them under the South African
Constitution;

Fast-tracked prosecution of the perpetrators of xenophobic
violence;

A mass education campaign designed to tackle xenophobia in
communities and to ensure that non-citizens are aware of their
rights and protections; and

The formation of task forces in each province that will
coordinate swift action to pre-empt and if necessary to respond to
outbreaks of xenophobic violence elsewhere in the country.

Furthermore, we call on the government to ensure that the panel
responsible for investigating these attacks acts swiftly and
transparently and that its mandate be expanded to include a more
general investigation into the treatment of migrants in South
Africa.

Moreover, we call on the African Union, SADC Secretariat,
governments in the region, President Mbeki, and ANC President Zuma
to respond responsibly to the crisis in Zimbabwe by doing
everything in their power to ensure free and fair elections at the
end of June and an end to political violence in the lead-up to and
aftermath of the elections.

Finally, we expect all of our leaders to ensure that those seeking
refuge in South Africa and other countries in the region are
treated with the dignity and compassion that is their inalienable
human right, regardless of citizenship or ethnicity.

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